The nonprofit sector has long wanted to move mountains to make our health and human services systems better. With the precision of a stick of dynamite, the Trump Administration has preferred dismantling systems to ameliorating them.

A month ago, we launched our public policy newsletter to chronicle the rapidly escalating pressure the new Administration has placed on the social safety net in Columbus and across the country.

The enormity of the changes it is pursuing cannot be understated: The Administration is making extraordinary changes, extraordinarily fast. From funding cuts to false rhetoric accusing nonprofits of fraud, the Administration’s disrupting decades of bipartisan collaboration that nonprofits have enjoyed with the federal government, regardless of the party in power.

In addition to the broad ways in which changes are disproportionately affecting our sector—sweeping tariffs sending tremors through the global economy; undermining the rule of law and the separation of powers by issuing executive orders against law firms and seeking impeachment against federal judges; and attacking the freedom of the press—we are tracking four ways in which the Administration is creating unique challenges for nonprofits here and across the country:

1. The Administration is trying to terminate as many federal grants to nonprofits as quickly as it can. Fortunately, federal courts have slowed or blocked the boldest and broadest attempt at this so far. But the Administration has persisted, targeting things like America’s refugee resettlement program, Fair Housing grants, education grants, arts grants, $1 billion in school meals for children, and more.
   
   Contrary to what was initially forecast by a memo targeting nonprofits doing work inconsistent with the Administration’s position on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the Administration has targeted a wide swath of federal grants—to nonprofits as well as higher education institutions, libraries, museums, and beyond.
   
   It’s still difficult to quantify how much federal grant money is in jeopardy for area nonprofits given the lack of specificity from the Administration, but it ranges from dozens of millions of dollars to hundreds of millions. This alone is posing an existential threat to nonprofits across the country.
2. The Administration is pushing partisan majorities in Congress to pass a spending bill that could result in over a trillion dollars of cuts to programs essential for nonprofits and the people they serve: Medicaid, SNAP (food stamps), and school meals. The ripple effect in Ohio could be enormous, as the federal Medicaid cuts could trigger a proposed provision that would end Medicaid expansion in our state, taking away healthcare for 115,000 Franklin County residents.
3. Federal agencies have already begun removing or ending longstanding grant opportunities. In other words, there won’t be as much money available for nonprofits to pursue through federal grants, as a White House memo from February calling for a review of all federal funding to nonprofits strongly suggests. For now, it is impossible to anticipate how much lost money this might represent.
4. Federal agencies are being aggressively downsized, particularly ones crucial to the health and human services sector, including the eponymous Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Education. This has coincided with funding cuts—some directly benefiting nonprofits, some indirectly. For example, the entire HHS staff administering utility assistance was laid off. This jeapordizes the future of LIHEAP, which routes $3.8 million to one of our member agencies to keep low-income people warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And indirectly, $12 billion has been rescinded in state public health allocations, resulting in Columbus Public Health having to lay off 11 infectious disease investigators and staffers. As these agencies shrink or are functionally shuttered, the impact on nonprofits operations and funding streams will be incalculable.

In the aggregate, two things are clear.

1. A substantial amount of federal money is going to stop flowing to communities across the U.S. over the next 12-18 months. With a wide array of experts now forecasting a recession in the year ahead, the rapid retreat of federal dollars to our social safety net would create a perfect storm of hardship driving even more demand for the services that health and human services nonprofits provide. This would further strain a sector of our economy that has been overburdened with high demand and insufficient resources since the pandemic began.
2. It is imperative for every community across the country to start finding funds to stabilize the sector for the change in how our federal government functions. We must do this to ensure every member of our community has the opportunity to reach their human potential.

In Columbus and Franklin County, an effort called the Funding Review Advisory Committee is about to begin a months-long process to identify potential revenue streams to support both health and human services nonprofits, as well as cultural arts organizations. With the federal government abdicating its long-time role in funding the social safety net, the onus will be on local communities to ensure its residents needs are met for the foreseeable future.

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